One conventional printing technique includes an ink jetting technique of discharging droplets of ink in precise locations to print an image on a piece of paper. In recent years, this ink jetting technique has been used in manufacturing processes for all sorts of devices to form patterns and thin, uniform films, for example.
Furthermore, a liquid discharge device capable of discharging a variety of liquids is required for this ink jetting technique to be used widely in fields other than print and graphics. For example, in order for a blue light emitting diode (LED) to emit a white light, a clear resin layer dispersed with fine-grained phosphor must be deposited on the surface of the LED. To deposit such a layer, a liquid discharge device for discharging a liquid containing solid matter is required. Moreover, in order to discharge the high viscosity thermo setting resin required in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, a liquid discharge device capable of discharging an accurate amount of a high viscosity liquid is required.
An example of a device capable of discharging various types of liquids is disclosed in Patent Literature (PTL) 1. The liquid discharge device disclosed in PTL 1 includes a storage chamber, which stores a liquid to be discharged, having a variable volumetric capacity provided such that a supply hole for supplying the liquid leads to a discharge hole for discharging the liquid. The liquid is discharged from the discharge hole by reducing the volumetric capacity of the storage chamber for a short period of time.
With a liquid discharge device having this structure, no damage is incurred by the solid matter contained in the liquid seeping between the rigid parts and causing friction. Moreover, it is possible to discharge a high viscosity liquid since the force that reduces the volumetric capacity of the storage chamber is great.